Congress

Democrats plan sharp rebuke of pre-war intelligence, Iraq war in massive new congressional report
By Larisa Alexandrovna and John Byrne, www.RawStory.com

House Judiciary Committee Democrats, spearheaded by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), are set to release possibly the sharpest congressional critique to date surrounding Iraq, RAW STORY has learned.

The report, titled "The Constitution in Crisis: The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution and Coverups in the Iraq War," is slotted to be made available to the public Tuesday. RAW STORY acquired a copy of the book’s cover and some additional information about the document today.

According to Democratic aides, the report will focus on alleged manipulation of pre-war intelligence by the White House, specifically covering such topics as the Downing Street Minutes as well as the White House position on the Geneva Conventions and international law as regards its policies toward prisoners of war.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Friday refused to reauthorize major portions of the USA Patriot Act after critics complained they infringed too much on Americans' privacy and liberty, dealing a huge defeat to the Bush administration and Republican leaders.

"Americans and Iraqis continue to die while House Republicans play political games," said Rep. Woolsey.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma) led 17 Members of Congress in protesting today's Republican measure, H.Res.612, because it calls for a continued, open-ended presence of American troops in Iraq. "I congratulate the Iraqis for their successful election, but we must have an open debate on Iraq on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, said Woolsey. "Americans and Iraqis continue to die while House Republicans play political games."

Rumor has it Congressman Dennis Kucinich will introduce this resolution:

Expressing the sense of Congress that the new permanent Council of Representatives of Iraq should debate and vote on whether or not the continued U.S. military presence in Iraq is desired by the Government of Iraq.

On December 14, 2005, Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) moved on the House floor for conferees on the Defense Appropriations Bill to accept the McCain amendment relating to prohibition on cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of persons under custody or control of the United States government.

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is in the early stages of drafting a request for up to $100 billion more for military costs in Iraq and Afghanistan, lawmakers say, a figure that would push spending related to the wars toward half a trillion dollars.

Former Republican Congressman and CIA official Bob Barr says that there is a danger recent developments describe a trend of America slipping into a totalitarian society and that the Bush administration are doing everything in their power to see that this happens.

An April 22, 2005 article by Elizabeth Schulte entitled "Why Inside-Outside is Getting Nowhere/Backing Democrats has Pulled the Anti-war Movement to the Right" was recently resurrected and forwarded to the UFPJ list by Dave Silver. In it, Ms. Schulte pulled a long quote from my very short article, "Transformation of the Democratic Party: John Kerry's Statement on the Iraq War; Political Ecology 101" yet still managed to get it completely out of context and reverse its meaning. Its full text can be found at http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/news/kerry_position.php.

"The war in Iraq is over and the occupation has turned into a quagmire. The United States troops have become the targets of criminals and terrorists who are flowing into Iraq for the chance to kill Americans. The cost of the occupation keeps rising: The President has already asked for more than $155 billion to pay for it, and there is no end in sight. The United Nations is now in an impossible situation, where most of the members view the war and occupation of Iraq as a U.S. folly. Under these circumstances, the UN is unlikely to help. And UN assistance with a U.S. occupation would not allow the establishment of an Iraqi government that was acceptable to the Iraqi people.

House Democrats on Wednesday worked to hit the restart button on their Iraq war message, talking up their unity and trying to downplay suggestions that their policy disagreements are damaging them politically.

The President's claims today are mindboggling. Either he doesn't understand the facts or simply doesn't want to face them. The reconstruction of Iraq has been an enormous boondoggle - not an example of "quiet, steady progress." Halliburton has repeatedly overcharged American taxpayers through fraud, waste, and abuse. The U.S. officials in charge of the reconstruction have been incompetent and, in some cases, corrupt. And billions of dollars have been squandered without increasing oil or electricity production.

Washington, DC – On the day before the president delivers another speech on the war in Iraq, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Carl Levin and Senator Jack Reed called on the president to provide a real strategy for success in Iraq. In a letter to the president, the Senators called on Bush to deliver more than a public relations document to the American people and our troops and to provide a strategy with benchmarks by which our progress can be measured.

Members of the 'Out of Iraq' Caucus Urged to Support Murtha's Iraq Resolution

Washington, DC - Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-25), Chair of the 'Out of Iraq' Congressional Caucus sent a letter to the seventy-one members of the 'Out of Iraq' Caucus urging them to cosponsor Congressman John Murtha's resolution, H J Res 73, which would redeploy US Forces from Iraq.

By, Tim Goodrich, Co-founder, Iraq Veterans Against the War / Western Regionivaw_west@ivaw.net

So often in our quest to end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home, we work from the bottom up. This happens when we have people in the streets protesting, people calling their elected officials and Iraq war vets and other credible sources speaking at public forums. While this is all great and our efforts are working, we frequently forget another valuable method for effecting change. I believe that it is equally important to work from the top down.

"The ‘Plan for Victory’ backdrop against which the President appeared at the Naval Academy today was no more accurate than the ‘Mission Accomplished’ backdrop he used over two and a half years ago on the USS Abraham Lincoln."

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 -- In a letter to Chairman Davis, Rep. Waxman asks that the Committee investigate reports that the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to present positive images of the military and the U.S. mission in Iraq.

Friday, December 02, 2005 -- In a letter to Chairman Tom Davis, Rep. Waxman discloses that the Army Corps of Engineers has paid Hallilburton $130 million in cost reimbursements, profits, and bonuses for billings related to fuel imports and oilfield repairs in Iraq that Defense Department auditors determined to be unreasonable and unsupported.

If there is one thing we can always count on, it’s politicians who walk over human corpses to show fear only in the face of something as formless and abstract as an opinion poll. The veterans and military families antiwar movement are well-versed on so-called realism – and that deference we are supposed to exercise when we approach elected officials, hat in hand, for a few crumbs of your attention and support.

"What the White House released today is more a list of goals than it is a workable plan. Concerns continue to mount that the Administration either will not or cannot recognize the clear facts on the ground that threaten our troops and our true objectives in combating terrorism worldwide.

"While today's speech by the President was billed as yet another attempt to lay out a plan for finishing the military mission in Iraq, the only new thing the administration gave the American people was a glossy 35-page pamphlet filled with the same rhetoric we've all heard before. Today's action by the White House isn't a step forward, it's a step back. In fact the booklet the administration released to accompany the President's speech is described as a "...document [that] articulates the broad strategy the President set forth in 2003..." That alone makes it clear that the President seems more dug in than ever to the same old "stay the course" way of thinking. This is not a strategy, and it certainly is not a plan to complete the military mission in Iraq.

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